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NEW YORK — The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 217 points Wednesday, putting the benchmark index below 15,000 for the first time in a month.

Investors -- unnerved by mortgage rates that topped 4% for the first time in a year and economic reports suggesting the economy isn't growing as fast as it was in April -- are fleeing stocks and jumping into government bonds.

The two-day stock slide that started Tuesday is mostly due to fresh incoming data on private job creation, factory orders and continued angst over when the Federal Reserve might be willing to pull back on its market-friendly stimulus.

Investors were worried that a report showing 30-year fixed mortgage rates hit 4% on average nationwide the past week could put the housing market rebound at risk.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, attributes the weakness in stocks to market participants re-pricing the market after a sharp run-up early this year that drove major indexes up by more than 15%.

That early-year surge, which was driven by momentum buying and liquidity injections from the Fed, has pushed price-to-earnings multiples up to 15 to 16 times earnings, which reflects a more fairly priced market.

The weak economic data is giving investors pause, he adds.

"The market is trying to come to grips with valuation," says Ablin. "Where are the fundamental supports? The market became somewhat un-tethered from fundamental supports."

The persistent weakness could be a sign that a long-awaited stock market pullback is here. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sank to 2.1%, reflecting a move from riskier stocks into the safe haven but lower-yielding government bonds.

"The market has gone quite a long way without having much of a pullback," says Kevin Caron, market strategist at Stifel. "The conditions are ripe for a pullback"

The S&P 500 has not suffered a drop of 5% or more since November 2012, says Bespoke Investment Group. And the benchmark index has not suffered a correction, defined as a drop of 10% or more, since the fall of 2011.

Mixed data on the U.S. job market did little to balance the grim news from Japan. The Labor Department reported that 1Q labor costs posted their largest drop since 1947 and labor productivity rose by a seasonally adjusted rate 0.5%, but the U.S. added a disappointing 135,000 jobs in May, according to private payroll processor ADP.

The mixed economic data keeps alive the debate about the timing of the Fed scaling back its "easy money" policies.

"People are afraid the Fed will start to withdraw from the market soon," said Francis Lun, chief economist at GE Oriental Financial Group in Hong Kong. "The flood of liquidity will start to dry up. Then the money will start to flow out of Asia. That is the fear."

Investors have become increasingly sensitive to economic reports in the last two weeks. They are trying to anticipate when the Fed will pull back on its $85 billion of bond purchases a month. That program has supported markets this year, and on some days stocks have even rallied on speculation that an ailing economy would ensure the stimulus will remain in place.

"We're pleased to see the market sell off on some bad news," said John Lynch, a regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo private bank. "The whole idea that bad news was good news was frustrating because it suggests to me that the markets are becoming too Fed-dependent."

Not all the news was bad. U.S. service companies grew at a faster pace in May, driven by a jump in new orders. However, fewer jobs were added in the sector.

On Tuesday, the Dow fell 76.49 points, or 0.5%, to close at 15,177.54. The broader S&P 500 index dropped 9.04 points, or 0.6%, to 1,631.38 and the Nasdaq composite index fell 20.11, or 0.6%, to 3,445.26.